Method and means for feeding articles



July 26, 1927. c; THYSSEN METHOD AND MEANS FOR FEEDING ARTICLES FiledJune 18, 1924 Fig.2

H m w e 5% n e r w w WW Patented July 26, 1927.

UNITED STA ,lnmr non am) Means FOR FEEDING, narrows.

Application filed June 18, 1924. Serial No. 720,879.

memos) TES PATENT OFFICE.

CONRAD THYSSEN, OI AACEEN, GERMANY.

In many machines designed to work upon cylindrical articles, such aswire shanks used in the manufacture of needles, the articles are fed tothe working place in a continuous row and the ends to be worked upon ofthe-articles must be uniformly dressed or alined in order to secure anaccurate working of the machines.

, Now, the present invention has for its object to devise a method anddevice by means ofwhich theaforesaid aligning of the ends to be, workedupon of the cylindrical articles may be effected in a simpleandefficient way. This object is essentially attained by 16 exerting onthe articles fed as stated a pressure from two opposite sides forieldably holding them, and while thus held imparting an endwiseshifting-motion to some or all of the articles forbringing their saidends into one common line.

For the purposes of the invention, I shall now describe it withreference to the accompanying drawing which diagrammaticallyillustrates, by way of example, two

embodiments of the device forming part of the invention.

In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a view, partly in section, of the firstembodiment; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same,

as seen from the left of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3' is" a section along the line 3 3 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a view, similar-to Fig. 1, of a modified form,

Fig. 5 is a Side elevation of the device according to Fig.- 4, seen fromthe left,

Fi 6 is a. section" along: the line 6+6 of F lg. 4.

The several figures of the drawing'show only'those parts of the devicewhich are necessary for the'understandinq of the invention, while themeans for imparting the feeding motion to the cylindrical articles andthe means for actuating the several parts of the device are omitted forthe sake of clearness and because they may be of any approvedconstruction.

Referrin now to the drawings the embodiment sliown in Figs. 13 which isthe primitive form of my invention, will be described first. 7 is a feedtrack which may be arranged vertically or horizontally andwhich'consists of two walls 8 and 9 between wire-shanks 10, are fed in arow in the which the cylindrical articles, .for instancedirection of thearrow at, to a working place. It is assumed that the shank ends lying onthe left-hand side of Figs. 1 and 3 should be worked upon and thereforemust be alined. To this end the following means are used. The track wall9 is provided with a recess 11 in which is mounted a pressure member 12.for instance in the form of a plunger. .The member 12 is adapted to be 6moved in the direction of the arrow b and serves to press the group ofshanks which lies between it and the opposite track wall 8, against thiswall which constitutes another pressure member. Thepressure withIO whichthe shanks 10 have .to be pressed between the member 12 and the wall 8must be greater than the relative frictional resistance between theshanks 10themselves. In order to obtain a uniform yieldable pressure 7on the shanks and a high frictional resistance between them and themember 12 the end face of the latter is covered with a layer 13 ofrubber or any other elastic material. Arranged laterally of the shankends to be worked upon is a slide 14 which is movable towards and awayfrom said ends in the direction of the arrow 0. While the shanks 10 arebeing yieldably held between the pressure member 12, 13 and the track 35wall 8, the slide :14 is moved againstthe shank ends to be worked uponand shifts the shanks endwise individually or in groups, therebybringing the said ends into one common line, as will be seen fromFig. 1. Owing to the friction of the shanks between the pressure member12 and the track 7 wall 8 no shank will be shifted farther than theslide 14 is moved. As soom as the group of shanks has been dressed, theslide 14 and the pressure member v12 recedes so that the shanks arereleased for further feedin In order to attain that all of the shan sare delivered to the working place uniformly alined, the describedalining operation is repeated in shorter or longer spaces of time whichdepends on the speed at which the shanks are conveyed through the feedtrack 7. If it is desiredto have the shanks continue their feed motionduring the alining operation, the pressure member 12 and the slide 14must likewise be moved in the direction of' feed as long a." they areoperating on the shanks and thereafter be returned to their initialpositions. This to and fro no movement is indicated bythe arrow (1. Withthe device according to Figs. 4-6

which embodies the preferred form of my invention and which is bestsuited for actual use, the movable slide 14 is replaced by a stationary.or adjustable fence 14', while the pressure member 12 when pressing onthe shanks 10 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the shanks (seearrow f) .thereby shifting them so that the ends to be worked upon arecaused to strikelagainst the fence 14 whereby such ends are alined. If,with this device, the shanks should be fed through the track 7uninterruptedly, it is only necessary to impart to the pressure member12 a movement in the direction of the feed motion of the shanks; that isto say, besides the movement for pressing the member 12 against theshanks and lifting it from the same, the member has an additionalmovement imparted to it in the oblique direction indicated by the arrowg.

Various possible embodiments of the invention and various changes in theembodiments described may be made, all within the scope of thesub-joined claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Let ters Patent, is i 1. The combination with a trackforfeeding cylindrical articles in a row to a working place, of a devicefor alining the ends of the articles to be worked upon, comprisingpressure members arranged on both sides of the row of cylindricalarticles, one of the pressure members being formed by one of the trackwalls and the other pressure member consisting of a plunger adapted tobe moved through a recess of the other track wall into and out ofengagement with the cylindrical articles and designed to yieldably pressand hold the articles against the firstsaid track wall, and means forimparting an endwise shifting motion to some or all of the articles heldbetween the pressure members for bringing the ends to be worked uponintoone common line.

2. The combination with a track for feeding cylindrical articles in arow to a working placer. of a device for alining the ends of thearticles to be worked upon, comprising a fence extending laterally-pfthe feed track at a certain distance from"-the same, a recess in one ofthe'track walls and a pressure member inthe said recess, this pressurememberbeing adapted to intermittently engage a seriesof the cylindricalarticles for yieldably pressing the same against the opposite track walland movable both in the direction of feed of the articles and in thedirection of their longitudinal axes for shifting the articles endwisewith their ends to be worked upon against the said fence withoutinterrupting the feed of the articles.

3. A method of aligning particular ends 4 of cylindrical articles wheresuch articles are being fed in a continuous row in mutual contact,consisting in providing a relative lateral movement between successivegroups of articles and an aligning member to simultaneously align thesimilar ends of the articles of a group while exerting a pressure uponthe articles of the group to a degree sufiicient to prevent movement ofthe articles of that group as a result of their frictional V ofcylindrical articles which are being fed in a continuous row in mutualcontact, consisting in holding the articles of a particular groupagainst similar lateral movement incident to their frictional engagement"one with another, and aligning the similar ends piflghe articles of thegroup of articles so 6. A method of aligning particular ends of articlesbeing fed in a continuous row in mutual contact, consisting in applyingpres- .sure to a group of ,the articlestsufiicient to overcome thetendency of the articles of such roup to move together, under theirrelative rictional engagement, and aligning the similar ends of thearticles of the group under a pressure exceeding that of the firstmentioned pressure.

7. A method of aligning similar ends of articles which are being fed ina continuous row in mutual contact, consisting in holding the articlesof a group against their tendency to move laterally together as a resultof their frictional engagement, and thereafter moving such grouprelatively to an aligning member to move the selected ends of thearticles of the group into alignment without regard to the holdingmeans.

SfAillGtllOd of aligning the similar ends of a series of cylindricalarticles fed in a continuous row in mutual contact, consisting in movingthe articles of a group relatively' and .laterally to align theirsimilar f ends lwhileat the same time preventing the movementof any onearticle of the grou being .traiisferred to an adjacent artic e throughthe frictional engagement of such articles.

9. A trackway for feeding cylindrical articles in a row in mutualcontactfan aligning means with which selected ends of the articles maybe made to contact in successive' groups to align such ends, and meanswhereby any one of the articles of the group being aligned is heldagainst movement rearticles of the group.

i 11. A trackway for feeding cylindrical v sultin from its frictionalengagement with the 'acent articles of the'group -10. trackway forfeeding cylindrical articles inarow in mutual contact, analigning-member relative to which the articles of a group may be movedto an extent to align the similar ends of the articles of such group,and a pressure means acting up on all the articles of the group toprevent any one article thereof from moving solely through itsfrictional cooperation with the adjacent articles in a rowv in mutualcontact, a fixed aligning member against which the similar bodilymovethe exert a pressure upon said articles to a degree suflicient toprevent any one article of the group from moving as a result of thefrictional engagement between such article g and the adjacent articlesof the group,-and means for operating the pressure means to oup towardthe aligning member for aligning the ends of{ the articles of suchgroup.

In testimony whereof I have's'igned my name to this specification.

"' CONRAD THYSSEN.

